


What If...? - No. 6 - Neku protected Joshua at the Udagawa mural?

by ImperfectOrphanage



Category: Subarashiki Kono Sekai | The World Ends With You
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 02:25:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9471272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperfectOrphanage/pseuds/ImperfectOrphanage
Summary: It wasn't supposed to happen this way.





	

 

It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.

The boy wasn’t supposed to value another life more than his. He wasn’t supposed to be brave and selfless, and he wasn’t supposed to dive in front of the bullet meant for Joshua.

It was wrong. It was stupid and wrong and-

The boy was still alive. He coughed, choking on his blood, but he smiled with a distant look in his beautiful cerulean eyes.

“What did you do?” Joshua whispered. He was afraid to touch the boy. His hands hovered over the fatal gunshot to the boy’s chest. It was pouring blood out faster with each heartbeat. “What have I done?”

“You’re okay,” the boy wheezed. He wasn’t moving, and his arms were to his sides and his legs were splayed at an odd angle. “You’re okay?”

It took a moment for Joshua to realize he was asking a question. He nodded dumbly and finally pressed his hands to the gaping wound. It was hot and it smelled of blood and gunshot residue. Joshua couldn’t stop it. He was in the RG, and his powers were limited. He couldn’t stop it. The boy was going to bleed out in front of him and because of his selfless act he wouldn’t be eligible for the Game.

He couldn’t stop it.

He couldn’t _stop_ it.

Joshua made a strangled noise as the boy’s eyes began to flutter shut. “No, Neku, stay with me.”

“It’s fine,” he murmured. “It’s doesn’t even hurt.”

“No, no,” Joshua shook him, “stay awake. Come on, now.”

“You’re okay?” He asked again, consciousness and mental faculties beginning to fail. “I’m sorry.”

Joshua cupped the boy’s face in his bloody hands. “What? Why?”

“I didn’t get…” Neku choked, sucked in a breath, and gasped. “I didn’t get your name.”

“Neku,” Joshua again, shook him, “stay with me. Please, open your eyes.”

“Thank you,” he exhaled, voice rattling with fluid. “You’re okay.”

A slight breeze fluttered Joshua’s hair against his cheeks. The boy had stopped breathing and lay with a relaxed smile on his face and half-lidded eyes staring into the unknown. Joshua shook his head. He touched the boy’s chest and found the heart was no longer weeping blood.

“No, Neku,” he whispered. “Neku…I needed you.”

Footsteps behind Joshua made him flinch. It wasn’t Minamimoto. The smell of smoke was in the air and the angel knelt next to Joshua to survey the damage.

“What now, Boss?”

Joshua reached out to close Neku’s eyes. He positioned the boy’s arms over his stomach and slid a bloody hand down his cheek. “I suppose we won’t need a Game now.”

“It saves us some paperwork,” Hanekoma said, rings of smoke curling from his nostrils. “An’ it’ll give the High Council reason to bring charges against Sho.”

“I didn’t want this,” Joshua sighed. “It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”

“Kiddo, we can’t control the world. C’mon, now, before someone sees us.”

Joshua whirled around to face him. “I can’t leave him here.”

“We’ll call the police. It’ll be fine.”

He gave Neku once last look. The blood stained the pavement and there were spatters of blood on the mural and on Joshua. Holding his hands out he closed his eyes, shifted to the UG, and fluttered away on the wind as a small, silvery butterfly.

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

But…Joshua had gotten exactly what he wanted.


End file.
